Yamaha & the New York Viola Society Present Day of Progressive Viola at Yamaha Artist Services, Inc.

BUENA PARK, Calif.New York's Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI) will host the first-ever Day of Progressive Viola on Monday, October 5, 2009. The full-day event will feature famed violists John Graham (www.grahamviola.com), Martha Mooke (www.marthamooke.com) and Danny Seidenberg (www.dannyseidenberg.com). Presented by Yamaha and The New York Viola Society, the event will include improvisation clinics, instrument testing, electric strings workshop and a full performance by the featured artists.

Focusing on alternative styles of music specifically for the viola, the Day of Progressive Viola will showcase today's leading figures of the emancipation of the instrument. They will discuss careers, demonstrate unique styles and offer insight for the next generation of viola players. This will be the New York Viola Society's first event of the 2009-2010 season. Additionally, it marks the debut of its "Viola Explorers" series, where the organization investigates progressive sounds on a variety of new instruments.

The day-long event, curated by Yamaha Electric String Artist Martha Mooke, a pioneer of the electric 5-string viola, will culminate in a concert featuring performances by Ms. Mooke, former Turtle Island String Quartet violist Danny Seidenberg and one of the leading figures of progressive music for the viola, John Graham.

In the afternoon, the event will feature an electric strings workshop by Ms. Mooke and an improvisation workshop conducted by Mr. Seidenberg. In addition, throughout the afternoon and pre-concert dinner break, Yamaha instruments and equipment will be available for attendees to test and play. Yamaha staff, as well as clinicians, will be available to provide information and assistance.

The Day of Progressive Viola is free and open to the public. Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. is located at 689 Fifth Avenue (at 54th Street) in New York City. Please RSVP at 212-339-9995. More information on YASI can be found at www.yamaha.com/yasi.

John Graham's multi-faceted career as a soloist, chamber music ensemble artist and teacher has taken him throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

During his 25 years as a top freelance violist in New York he performed as soloist, in chamber music ensembles, in new music groups, symphony, ballet, and Broadway orchestras, in film, TV, and commercial recording. He subsequently taught for eighteen years at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and is now Professor Emeritus of Viola.

Mr. Graham is a member of the Artist Faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and has participated in the Marlboro, Santa Fe, Semaines Musicales (France) music festivals.

He has appeared as guest artist with the American, Guarneri, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, Tokyo and Ying Quartets. His recordings include a solo four-CD series entitled Music for the Viola, as well as issues of contemporary and conventional ensemble repertoire, including the complete viola quintets of Mozart with the Juilliard Quartet and quartets of Berg, Debussy and Ravel with the Galimir Quartet.

Yamaha Artist Martha Mooke

Martha Mooke, composer/electro-acoustic violist, a pioneer in the field of electric five string viola, transcends musical boundaries by synthesizing her classical music training with extended techniques, digital effects processing and improvisation.

She is a Yamaha Artist and leading clinician on electric and alternative approaches to string playing. Founder and violist of the electro-acoustic Scorchio Quartet, featured on David Bowie's Heathen CD, Mooke has toured internationally as a member of Barbra Streisand's acclaimed orchestra. She has also performed and recorded with Bowie, Philip Glass, Enya, Lou Reed, Tony Bennett, David Byrne, Moby, John Cale, Trey Anastasio, Ziggy Marley, Luciano Pavorotti and the Orchestra of St. Luke's to name a few.

Her catalog includes works for electric and acoustic instruments, film, theater, dance and multimedia productions.

She has received awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer and Arts International among others. She was honored with an ASCAP Concert Music Award for conceiving and producing the new music showcase THRU THE WALLS featuring ASCAP composer/performers whose work defies categorization.

Danny Seidenberg

Danny Seidenberg has enjoyed a varied and eclectic musical career moving between classical, jazz and pop styles as a performer and composer, arranger, and educator. He made his solo viola debut at age 16 with the Pittsburgh Symphony as part of their Young People's Concert series. A Juilliard graduate and veteran New York player, he is best known for his 12 years as the violist of the Turtle Island String Quartet. Danny left the quartet in 2003 for a successful tenure as a busy studio musician in Los Angeles, playing on hundreds of movie and TV scores. He has been in Oregon since 2007 and has been playing with the Portland Opera, Eugene Symphony, Corvalis Symphony, Salem Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, and newly formed Quartet Americano. Danny's latest recording, 'Alto Logic', with his very special trio, the 'Unbande' (2 violas and the Chapman Stick) is available at CD Baby.

For more information about the New York Viola Society, please visit www.nyvs.org.